- The law relating to the transparency of information on agricultural and food products, published in the Official Journal on August 11, authorizes the sale of peasant seeds to amateur gardeners
- An important victory for the collectives of farmers and peasants who for years demanded this right to be able to sell their own seeds, a practice that has been prohibited since 1932
- But this is just one step. This law still does not allow farmers and professionals to buy peasant seeds
"I can't understand how we could have been robbed of this right to plant what nature has given us", fulminated the starred chef Olivier Roellinger, in front of the cameras of "Cash Investigation", a year ago. His rant was about the ban on selling peasant seeds, these seeds from the own production of a farmer he could sell.
"A big step for biodiversity"
The practice had a long history before being banned in 1932. Only seeds of a variety registered in the "Official Catalog of Species and Varieties of Cultivated Plants" were then authorized for sale.
After a long battle, collective farmers and farmers eager to sell their own seeds obtained a first victory on June 11 with the publication in the Journal plies the law on the transparency of information on agricultural products and food. It authorizes the sale or exchange of peasant seeds to amateur gardeners. "A big step for biodiversity", reacts, on Twitter, Barbara Pompili, MP for the Somme and president of the Commission for Sustainable Development in the National Assembly.
After 4 years of legal battle, the law is now voted! 😊
Proud to have waged this fight.
Next step, Europe! #Country seeds # biodiversity https://t.co/OFVDh0HXWP
A practice that emerges from illegality
This is because the criteria of this official catalog mainly meet intensive farming. "Homogeneous and stable plants, which we will plant almost always on the same dates, which will all grow identically," railed Olivier Roellinger, still at the microphone of Elise Lucet. The restaurateur then saw in this standardization of vegetables a significant loss of biodiversity. "In 100 years, 75% of cultivated vegetables and fruits have disappeared," he assessed, attacking the multinational food companies [Monsanto, Syngenta, DuPontDow] which patent the seeds and have the funds to include it in the catalog. . "They took over the living," he lamented.
Concretely, this law of June 11, confirms a practice that has been more or less tolerated in recent years, associations like Kokopelli already selling peasant seeds to amateurs. "The law of June 11 is a victory, it's quite historic," said Ananda Guillet, president of Kokopelli, interviewed by Liberation . For the first time since the creation of our association, twenty years ago, we are in full legality. If we are sued, French law will protect us. Ananda Guillet also sees in this new authorization the possibility for many other actors to embark on the sale of peasant seeds. Starting with small market gardeners or other farmers, he says, still in the Liberation columns .
Just a step?
It remains, however, only a stage in the battle waged for years by the collectives of peasants and farmers eager to sell their own seeds, and their political backers. This law still does not allow farmers and professionals to buy peasant seeds, notes for example Novethic, a media specializing in responsible economics. Barbara Pompili also invites to fight these same fights on the scale of the European Union.
Society
Coronavirus: Breton and Norman cider soon in car tanks?
World
California: The American State Can No Longer Warn About the Carcinogenic Risk of Roundup
- Environment
- Food
- Biodiversity
- Planet
- Agriculture